| kudos to Rep. Patrick Murphy |
[Jul. 8th, 2009|08:58 pm] |
Kudos to Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-PA), who today picked up the job of heading up HR-1283, the bill to repeal the (good grief, "mistake" doesn't even begin to cover it, does it) that is Don't Ask, Don't Tell.
We have lost 13,000 loyal servicemembers to this travesty, loyal and brave Americans who could and should have otherwise been serving their country.
When Bill Clinton was elected, my roomate and I did the One Sock Dance of Joy(tm), largely for two reasons: healthcare, and the rights of gays in the military. He, and the congress of the day, let us down big time. I was pissed when Don't Ask, Don't Tell happened. I mean P.I.S.S.E.D.
The previous chief sponsor had to step down from the role because she's gone to work for the State Dept. So Patrick Murphy, a "blue-dog" democrat, who won by a very small margin in 2008 in PA, (a tough area for Dems), has taken over charge of rallying the forces and getting support for the bill. I suggest anyone who wants to donate to a tight congressional race in a year, this man may need it, and sure as hell deserves it!
There are currently over 150 cosponsors (218 will cinch the deal). Is your Rep on the list? If not, why not? And what are you going to do about it? |
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| Alton Brown's Swedish Meatballs |
[May. 15th, 2009|05:19 am] |
So, last night, I made Alton Brown's Swedish Meatballs. There were three notable exceptions to his method. First, I have 1oz springloaded ice-cream scoop, so I had to guesstimate size. Second, I have no stand mixer with which to "beat the tar" out of the mixture. Third, I used buttermilk to soak the bread in, instead of milk.
Difference one: well, he said he made 30 meatballs with this recipe. So, when I was at 34 meatballs, and only 2/3-3/4 way through the mixture, I made them all bigger. It was against my better judgement, as I thought the were too big. I was right. They took forever to cook. I would have preferred to make 4 batches that took 2/3 of the time to cook, than 2.5 batches that took too long. I think I was right the first time, about size, because the larger meatballs took 12-14 minutes, instead of his recommended 7-9. Must listen to my gut more often!
Second: I tried really hard to mix the meatball mixture with my hands as best I could, for twice as long as he said to do it in a stand mixer. But they still had more of a rough, regular-meatball texture that the fine texture of a swedish meatball.
Third, the buttermilk added a really lovely, very slight, tang to the meatballs. Yum!
I served the meatballs and gravy over egg noodles, and it was delicious! |
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| squeeeee! |
[May. 7th, 2009|02:46 pm] |
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Star Trek TONIGHT!!! We have tickets for tonight, 7pm, at the Alderwood Regal 7. Yes, tonight. Woohoo!!! I'm so excited, I'm even gonna take the medicine so I can have popcorn! |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 20th, 2009|01:35 am] |
I made 5 lasagnas yesterday. One has already been demolished. 1 will be delivered tomorrow to a friend from church who recently had a baby. 2 will be delivered on Tuesday to Amber581 (I can't do that linky-to-your-lj thing) for after her baby. And the other will be nom'ed early this week.
I LOVE the no-boil lasagna noodles! They make lasagna something that doesn't require a crapload of time and patience.
This is what I made:
1 ginormous organic yellow onion
3 lbs hormone/antibiotic-free leanest ground beef
Balsamic vinegar
4 lbs ricotta cheese
4 eggs
8 c. shredded mozzarella
~12 oz. shredded parmesan
Garlic powder
2 lbs spinach
4 jars pasta sauce
5 cans tomato sauce
Basil & other herbs
2/3 head of garlic*
No-boil noodles
*would've been a whole head, to be v. v. garlicky, but I don't want to make gassy newborns for breastfeeding mamas.
I cooked the onions, beef, garlic, and balsamic vinegar in 2 pans (1/3 to go in the non-spinachy lasagna, 2/3 to have spinach.)
I mixed 1 jar pasta sauce and 1 can tomato sauce in a saucepan, with a little garlic, and other seasonings. This sauce was just for the bottom of the lasagna pans, so the noodles would be resting on just sauce.
I added sauces and spices to the meat mixtures, and 2 lbs of chopped spinach to the larger one.
Mixed ricotta, eggs, half the mozzarella, garlic powder, and some basil.
Layered:
Plain sauce
Noodles
Ricotta mixture*
Mozzarella (light sprinkling)
Meaty sauce
Noodles
Ricotta mixture
Meaty sauce
Noodles
Meaty sauce (less than other layers)
Mozzarella
Parmesan
*since the noodles weren't cooked, I could just spread this on the noodles, like spread on a cracker, before putting them in the pan -- much easier!
And that was it! No messing around with trying to boil noodles, and keep them separate, and keep them whole, and trying to maneuver these big slippery fragile sheets of pasta!
And the bonus: it's delicious! And healthy! You can't even taste the spinach, but I left it out of Amber's anyway.
Now, I just need to find some whole wheat no-boil lasagna noodles... |
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| pointless entry, probably |
[Feb. 12th, 2009|12:58 am] |
But in case my vegetarian but not vegan friends care, Sonoma Jack brand cheese cubes is made without rennet, and just happens to be on sale for $0.99/16oz bags at Grocery Outlet right now. And they're yummy!
*stirs some benefiber into her carrot juice to counteract all this cheese...* |
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| bad. very bad. |
[Jan. 17th, 2009|11:17 pm] |
Bad idea #492:
"Hmm, I'll watch Silence In The Library and Forest of the Dead right before bed..." |
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| Rustycon 26: our hotel |
[Jan. 9th, 2009|10:11 am] |
May I just say how freakin awesome the Marriott is, especially in comparison to the Holiday Inn last year, but really, even without comparison.
We had the Pre-Con Meeting with them yesterday, which was pretty much all about, "how can we be the best con hotel EVAR?"
Then, we were looking at the breakfast menu. You know, the "put this on your door by midnight, and we'll bring you really expensive breakfast" menu? And we realized that if we ordered off the "sides" it was no more expensive than going to Denny's. And considering how crazy expensive the hotel restaurant is, one less Denny's trip per day is a good thing! So we got really yummy oatmeal and bacon for me, and a bagel with cream cheese and bacon and ham for Drew, all for less than going to Denny's. And we didn't even have to leave the room!
They also have a thing you can set outside your door saying what time you want your room cleaned (10-noon, 12-2, or 2-4).
The beds are super comfy. Really, really comfy.
The maintenance staff is friendly and fast. We had an A/C problem that couldn't be fixed, but that was okay, because we got switched to a bigger room, easy-peasy. |
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| Ugh. |
[Jan. 4th, 2009|11:37 pm] |
I tried. I cannot watch this week's Face The Nation. Our VP, with his smug, lipless smile, is just too fucking evil. He creeps me out.
15 days, 12 hours, and 19 minutes to go... |
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| some initial thoughts |
[Nov. 5th, 2008|03:49 am] |
This movement that Obama has inspired, this "yes we can" business. It's serious stuff. And what he was asking of us in his speech was not light stuff. He was asking sacrifice and trust.
We have not been trusting of authority, especially the authority of the President, in a long time. In order for him to effectively lead, we are going to have to do that to some degree. He is going to be making some tough decisions in the next months and years, because as wonderful as the last 24 hours have felt, we are not in good times, my friends. And it will not be easy to pull out of them.
As far as sacrifice, it was not enough to vote. That was our part, yes, but it was only the beginning of our part. We need to take his call to action, his call to civic duty, his call to volunteerism, seriously. Our health care, our poor, our security, our children's education, our planet, our nation, are all in trouble. They all need help. He can't do it alone. What are you going to do to support him?
I may reword all this when I'm a little less post-election insomniac. |
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| Yeah, BABY! |
[Nov. 4th, 2008|08:12 pm] |
And now even 297, and counting!
The One Sock Dance of Joy (tm) is being danced in our home tonight!!! |
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| WA State Superintendent of Public Instruction Race |
[Oct. 31st, 2008|02:10 pm] |
This is a subject very dear to me, as a mother of a school going child, but also as someone who cares about the state of our society.
Even if you don't have children, or send your children to private school, today's publicly educated children become your employees, employers, coworkers, neighbors, friends, (fellow voters!) and caretakers tomorrow, and are still your fellow citizens today.
If you haven't filled out your ballot yet, please give consideration to voting for Randy Dorn in the Superintendent of Public Instruction race. He's an educator and official with experience and great ideas, and Terry Bergeson has had 12 years too many to screw up our schools. The WASL is her "thing", her pet project, her product, and she's quite proud of it, no matter how much of a failure it repeatedly is proven to be. I'm going doorbelling for Randy Dorn and his reform plans tomorrow. Cora is genuinely upset that her sprained ankle prevents her from joining me for more than a few doors.
http://www.randydorn2008.com
Thank you,
Kate |
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| Pathology report |
[Oct. 22nd, 2008|06:31 pm] |
I realized I forgot to report here. So for those of you who didn't catch an announcement on irc or mdc, the pathology came back totally benign! WOOHOO!!!
Now I'm just recovering from the surgery, but I'm so relieved.
I go in for another mammogram and u/s in a couple months, so they can get a baseline of what it looks like after the surgery. |
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| post-surgery update |
[Oct. 15th, 2008|03:42 am] |
Thank you for your prayers and kind thoughts.
Surgery went fine, and the doc said he thought it looked benign, though we still have to wait for pathology reports, which will come Thursday or Friday. I'm trying to be really happy about that, but I'm so out of it and emotional from the anaesthesia that all I can muster is vague relief.
I slept most of the afternoon, and now I'm awake off and on.
I'm in a lot of pain now. The incision is a lot longer than I thought it'd be, and touching any part of my breast hurts. I assume there's a decent amount of damage in there, because everyone talks about how incredibly dense and tough the area is, so it might have been a little more work to get it out.
I'm really hoping this doesn't affect my ability to nurse future children. The incision is from about 11 o'clock (maybe 11:30) to 3 o'clock position along my very large areola, and the bad area they took out was about 2-3cm x 1.5cm x 1cm, located a little ways out from the areola. He said, in the consult, that he'd try to do as little damage to the rest of the network of ducts and lobes, so as to preserve my future breastfeeding ability.
There is a definite dent, which he said he'd be able to avoid, so I'm hoping that means that the rest of my copious breast tissue will take over and fill in the area sometime.
I'm also on an emotional roller coaster, coming down off of the general anaesthesia. I'm Miss Crankypants Weepsalot. Hopefully, that'll go away in another day or two. My sister has had a lot of surgeries, and she's usually really cranky for the first day, then weepy for a couple of days.
I'll post again when I have pathology reports, presumably saying I don't have cancer!
Thank you all again for your support. |
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| surgery today |
[Oct. 14th, 2008|02:00 am] |
Unsurprisingly, I can't sleep. I'm supposed to be up in 2 hours, to head to the hospital.
We dropped Cora off at her friend's house last night, along with some Rescue Remedy and instructions for calming her down. Cora has been really stressing about this surgery. I've just kept trying to reassure her that even though I'm going under general anaesthesia, it's a minor surgery, and I have basically the best doc in Washington for this type of thing, and nothing's going to go wrong. But she still worries about it. So, at her request, I wrote her a note with the key "why not to worry" points that she can keep with her, and then we prayed about it, and she felt a lot better. Cora's friend went through stressing out over HER mom having surgery last year, and everything turned out fine, so I'm hoping she'll be a comfort to Cora as well.
We check in at 5:45am, and they'll do some prepping up at surgery. Then at 7:30, they'll take me over to Radiology, numb up my boob, and thread a wire through and into my breast, which will mark the area for the surgeon to take out. Then, with a wire hanging out of my breast, they will walk me back over to surgery. Then at 9am, they'll prep me and put me under. I should be out of recovery by noon.
If you're a prayer, of any type, please include me in yours. If not, please send me some positive thoughts. Thanks! |
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| new Duggar girl |
[Oct. 10th, 2008|03:50 am] |
Recommendations I've seen for the new Duggar daughter's name include:
Jemima
Jelatin (hey, after you name a kid Jinger, anything's on the table, right?)
Jesus
Jenga
Jentile
Jeranium
Jellyroll
Jezebel
Jerbil
Jesusenoughalready
And a quote from a message board I'm on. There was mention of the Duggars perhaps naming the last baby with a letter other than J.
"How will they know a baby is their "last one"? Will her uterus come out with the baby?? LOL... I have visions of a fed up uterus, all tired and cranky with bags packed (ovaries?) stomping out of her vulva and with a huff walking out of the hospital... "
LMAO |
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